Marantz "warm", "Colored" sound not "True" "Clear" sound? What?

aramirez626

Well-Known Member
I was looking at reviews of Marantz compared to Sansui receivers and most comparisons rate Sansui sound better than Marantz. They say that the Marantz is warm, colored sound and the Sansui is more true uncolored and clear sound. I like the sound of my Marantz, but just wondering if anyone knows what this means, or if anyone has had the opportunity to hear both and why you chose your Marantz. Of course these are peoples opinions, but it was a common theme among alot of reviews.

Thanks!
 
Yup, that's pretty much it.
The "Marantz" sound.

DO you use the loudness switch on your Marantz?
Turn it off and you'll get more of an idea of what uncolored, clear is.

That's about the best way I can think of to describe it.

For me Marantz has a "Presence" in the sound. Sort of like "its IN the room"
The clear clean crisp "natural" sound is more like "there is music in the room"


Hmmmm, Marantz, think "deep throaty husky" sounding seductress.
 
I experienced a similar phenomenon with the Marantz receiver I had. It led me to sell it and to just stay away from receivers in general.
 
Yup, that's pretty much it.
The "Marantz" sound.

DO you use the loudness switch on your Marantz?
Turn it off and you'll get more of an idea of what uncolored, clear is.

That's about the best way I can think of to describe it.

For me Marantz has a "Presence" in the sound. Sort of like "its IN the room"
The clear clean crisp "natural" sound is more like "there is music in the room"


Hmmmm, Marantz, think "deep throaty husky" sounding seductress.

Oh, so do you typically listen to it with the loudness off or on?
 
I meant what is your source and amplification? I'm new to this, sorry I don't know the proper terms.

I switch between an integrated amplifier and a pair of seperates (preamp + poweramp)

The three main components inside of a receiver are the preamp, poweramp and tuner. Separates are when you have those components in their own separate chassis's. An integrated amplifier contains the preamp and the poweramplifier but no tuner. Other then that their feature sets are similar to receivers but it's possible to find integrateds built to much higher specifications then receivers.

Discussions of sound quality aside, separates are great because you can mix and match different components very easily.
 
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I have owned quite a bit of gear and I will say that a properly rebuilt Marantz receiver is an amazing value in audio. An old Marantz receiver in stock state may sound fat and bloated in the mids with not much at the extremes. After it gets a high quality rebuild ( you will get back your frequency extremes and acuracy) I am not feeling the itch to upgrade and am very satisfied with the sound. From what I am hearing coming from my vintage rebuilt Marantz would take about a 1K price range to better it.:banana:
 
Oh, so do you typically listen to it with the loudness off or on?

I typically listen with loudness on since I typically run at low levels.
It compensates for the natural deficiencies of human hearing and probably some of my ear deficiencies from age.

Since loudness is usually effective to 1/2 volume and I never go past 1/2 volume, it is pretty much in effect all the time.

I've weaned off tone controls for the most part (and EQs) but haven't gotten to the point of running without loudness. Probably for the reasons above.

ANYWAY, if you flip between loudness ON/OFF on an old Marantz, you'll get some idea of what other stuff sounds like.

BTW, the old Pioneers (early 70s) have a nice "fat", colored sound. I've noticed it in the cap coupled receivers.

Now Sansui, is not bad. I have a couple that I like. My Eight is good. I liked my 5000A. Didn't like the G5000. SO which Sansui you are looking at makes a difference.

OH and I like Pioneer a lot too.
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you want your Sansui to sound like a Marantz, throw a blanket over your speakers.

That said, the 2230 is my favorite Marantz.

Rob
 
Never had a Suzuki, never will, just don't like foreign cars....

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you want your Sansui to sound like a Marantz, throw a blanket over your speakers.

That said, the 2230 is my favorite Marantz.

Rob
 
I found the Marantz 2275 to sound all midrange and not pleasant to listen to. I switch back to the Fisher.
 
Refurbed....? Every Marantz I know had no bass or treble at all...all mid range.

Most of these comparisons are left wing commie nonsense, we all know who won the cold war between Marantz and Fisher back in the 70s and was't because it lacked bass/treble, is Fisher still in business ...? :D
 
I have had a few Marantz receivers and my refurbished 2230 sounds wonderful. I have had a Sansui 5000x that sounded similar and a 771 that sounded too "bright", I guess.

I also had a Marantz 2265B that sounded too bright. Sold it.

I'll stick with the 2230 and 2252 refurb models I have. I tend to listen at lower volume levels anyway and use the loudness button most of the time.

JM
 
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